salt-hole. It had been surprised, no doubt, 

 while sleeping, and, diving in fright, was 

 drowned under the ice, which had silently 

 spread like a strange, dreadful covering over 

 its bed. 



Probably the life of no other of our winter 

 birds is so full of hardship as is that of the 

 quail, Bob White. 



In the early summer the quails are hatched 

 in broods of from ten to twenty, and live as 

 families until the pairing season the next spring. 

 The chicks keep close to the neighborhood of 

 the home nest, feeding and roosting together, 

 under the guidance of the parent birds. But 

 this happy union is soon broken by the advent 

 of the gunning season. It is seldom that a bevy 

 escapes this period whole and uninjured. In- 

 deed, if one of the brood is left to welcome the 

 spring it is little less than a miracle. 



I have often heard the scattered, frightened 

 families called together after a day of hard 

 shooting ; and once, in the old pasture to the 

 north of Cubby Hollow, I saw the bevy assemble. 



It was long after sunset, but the snow so dif- 

 fused the light that I could see pretty well. In 

 [44] 



